Craig wide legal stance leaves wiggle room

Whether Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) ultimately steps down Sept. 30 could now come down to his definition of “cleared.”

When he promised to fight his conviction in a police sex sting operation and clear his name, did he mean he would renege on resigning if he could simply withdraw his guilty plea? Or would Craig need to settle the case entirely?

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“He has not laid down any specific benchmarks beyond ‘cleared,’” his spokesman Dan Whiting said Wednesday.

The wiggle room may not matter: Reaching any benchmark within the next 25 days is doubtful, if not impossible, say legal experts in Minnesota, where the incident occurred.

“Out of 100 times, this might be able to get done one time,” said Joel Friedberg, a leading criminal defense attorney in Minneapolis.

The remote chances of a legal reversal are exactly what the Senate Republican leadership is banking on.

Despite Craig’s personal appeals to individual senators on Wednesday, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his top lieutenants, including Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Robert Bennett (R-Utah), reiterated their desire to see Craig go.

They thought he was planning to do just that — until his aides issued statements late Tuesday indicating that Craig may not step down Sept. 30 “should his name be cleared before then.” The statements confirmed speculation that Craig’s careful wording of his resignation speech Saturday — he said it was his “intent” to resign — offered an opening for him to reconsider.

Since they can neither remove Craig from office nor stop him from pursuing a legal strategy aimed at salvaging his career, the GOP leadership has resorted to sending signals that life in the Senate won’t be easy.

Republican aides said the conference will move quickly to fill Craig’s committee posts, likely in the next week.

And McConnell reminded Craig of what awaits him should he return.

“If he is able to get the case favorably disposed of in Minneapolis, it would be his intention to come back to the Senate and to deal with the ethics committee case he knows he will have and decide to finish out his term,” McConnell told reporters.

McConnell added that he thought Craig’s announcement Saturday that he intended to resign was the right one, and “that is still my view today.”

Bennett was more blunt: “Once you announce you are resigning, you don’t take it back.”

“Clearly Sen. Craig is watching TV and making decisions based upon what he sees,” a top Senate GOP aide said. “We want to make sure that he understands that we think he’s resigned. There is no question that our leadership wants him to stand by that decision.”

Underscoring the sensitivity of the issue, many senators left the talking up to McConnell.

Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) threw up his hands in disgust and stomped away when asked to comment. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who is under scrutiny in a federal corruption probe, stared down reporters and ignored the questioning. Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said he would wait to see what happens.

Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said he would support whatever decision Craig makes.

Leave it up to Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who got a pass from Republican leaders when he acknowledged being on the call list of an alleged prostitution ring, to say a bit more than the others.

“I am praying for him and his family,” Vitter said. “Obviously, it’s a decision for him to make.”